We have had our sights set on this day. For some time we have been planning a trip to
the ‘topiary gardens”. I actually had to
look up ‘topiary’ to see what it meant and I became very interested. I am not much of an art guy but we attended
an ice carving event in Stowe, VT. one winter and I was amazed at how the
artist could create something by removing material – after all this is opposite
from most medium where you add paint, or clay, or… The actual name of the garden
is Green Animals Topiary Garden and it is part of the Brayton House tour.
The house and gardens are
associated with The Preservation Society of
Newport County which works to preserve Newport’s architectural heritage for
future generations. For our visit the
house was closed for the season but our tickets were noted so we could have
free access when the house was opened for tours again. The house being closed was not a show stopper
for us because we were both more interested in the gardens. Green Animals has more than 80 pieces of
topiary through almost 6 acres of gardens.
The topiary include geometric figures, and ornamental designs , as well as animals and birds. Among the highlights are topiaries in the shapes of a boar, camel, donkey, elephant, two giraffes, horse and rider, and unicorn - though and many more. Three handcrafted scarecrows dating to the 1940s still great visitors to a large vegetable garden.
The vegetable garden is used for educational purposes. and produce from it is donated weekly to local charities. If you stay alert you might even run into a little friend who will probably grow much faster once he finds the vegetable garden.
After wandering the gardens for we decided to get a couple of cold drinks from the gift shop and sat in rocking chairs on the porch of the Brayton House just watching Narragansett Bay – very peaceful.
Once we regained some energy it was off to
Newport harbor. We decided we would park
at Fort Adams and watch the bay from there. 
The topiary include geometric figures, and ornamental designs , as well as animals and birds. Among the highlights are topiaries in the shapes of a boar, camel, donkey, elephant, two giraffes, horse and rider, and unicorn - though and many more. Three handcrafted scarecrows dating to the 1940s still great visitors to a large vegetable garden.
The vegetable garden is used for educational purposes. and produce from it is donated weekly to local charities. If you stay alert you might even run into a little friend who will probably grow much faster once he finds the vegetable garden.
After wandering the gardens for we decided to get a couple of cold drinks from the gift shop and sat in rocking chairs on the porch of the Brayton House just watching Narragansett Bay – very peaceful.
For a Monday afternoon there was a lot of boat traffic including a trimaran that I now want to own and we watched the Victory II cruise ship pulling out of the harbor.
Both Lori and I find the water a wonderful place to relax. The next time we are in the area we are planning on taking the water taxi to tour Newport as well as the harbor. The water taxi is $12 for an all day pass and it has six stops around the harbor to make seeing Newport on foot easy. I recommend to do this off-season and during the week because parking at Fort Adams SP becomes free and plentiful. From there you can go to all points Newport with no hassle and it just takes a relaxing boat ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment